Pastor Neil Platon has returned to the ashes at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. Charred contents from the fellowship hall, left, are disposed into dumpster, right. “Like the Mighty Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, We too shall Rise,” Platon says in an interview.(Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Pastor Neil Platon surveys the grounds and sets the alarm at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The North Campus branch of the New Beginnings United Methodist Church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February in San Bernardino. The most recent fire on Monday, March 9, 2020 destroyed donated special-event tablecloths and a stage built by members of the church. Photographed on Friday, March 13, 2020 (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Pastor Neil Platon touches base with cleaning crews at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. Within the last couple hours police patrolled the church twice. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Pastor Neil Platon sets the alarm at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. He will hold a March 15 service in the church’s downtown San Bernardino campus. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A pastor unlocks New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino to set the alarm on Friday, March 13, 2020. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. Fire hit the church again on Monday, March 9, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A white board was destroyed in a March 9, 2020 fire at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. Photographed on Friday, March 13, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cleaning crew will treat salvageable items that survived the March 9, 2020 fire at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino. Photographed on Friday, March 13, 2020. Pastor Neil Platon does not believe the crimes were motivated by hate. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The smell of smoke still lingers as crews clean the New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s fellowship hall in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. The most recent fire, March 9, destroyed donated special-event tablecloths and a stage built by members of the small church. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Cleaning crews dispose of fire destroyed items from New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s fellowship hall, left, at the Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
The fellowship hall is boarded up at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino after another arson. The North Campus branch of the church, with branches in downtown San Bernardino and Fontana, has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. The sound of cleaning crews are heard Friday, March 13, 2020. The most recent fire, March 9, destroyed donated special-event tablecloths and a stage built by members of the small 50-60 congregant church. (Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
Pastor Neil Platon has returned to the ashes at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in San Bernardino on Friday, March 13, 2020. The North Campus branch of the church has been victimized by four burglaries and two arson fires since February. Charred contents from the fellowship hall, left, are disposed into dumpster, right. “Like the Mighty Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, We too shall Rise,” Platon says in an interview.(Photo by Cindy Yamanaka, The Press-Enterprise/SCNG)
A fire at New Beginnings United Methodist Church on Del Rosa Avenue in San Bernardino on March 9, 2020, was under investigation after the pastor said someone broke in and set the fellowship hall ablaze. (Courtesy of Pastor Neil Platon)
A fire at New Beginnings United Methodist Church on Del Rosa Avenue in San Bernardino on March 9, 2020, was under investigation after the pastor said someone broke in and set the fellowship hall ablaze. (Courtesy of Pastor Neil Platon)
The pastor of a small church in San Bernardino that has suffered through burglaries and arson fires this year is struggling to remain philosophical in the face of repeated adversity.
Thieves broke into a clothes closet at New Beginnings United Methodist Church’s Del Rosa Avenue campus in late February and stole power strips, an iron and food, Pastor Neil Platon said. On March 5, burglars entered a lounge area and set it ablaze. The next day, still-unidentified persons forced their way in through a kitchen and took amplifiers, speakers and keyboards that the church band uses in worship services. And on March 9, an arsonist caused the most damage by torching the fellowship hall, Platon said.
The San Bernardino County Fire Department and San Bernardino Police Department are investigating.
Platon said he is trying to keep his congregation of about 50-60 people in good spirits despite the actions of the criminals.
“I was upset at first, but at the end of the day, they are children of God, too,” Platon said. But in his next breath, the pastor said: “We still are not there yet in terms of forgiveness for that kind of thing by the people that are responsible. That will take a while.”
Before that interview, Platon had written a long Facebook post in response to the crimes in which he said in part: “Like the Mighty Phoenix Rising from the Ashes, We too shall Rise.” Platon said in an interview that he believed those were appropriate words, given that some of his congregation suffered property damage in the 2003 Old Fire that destroyed 975 buildings and burned 91,000 acres.
“We need encouragement among our people,” he said.
But the second fire was especially difficult to take. The flames destroyed donated tablecloths that were used for special events. And the fellowship hall stage that burned had been built by the congregation.
“It just broke the hearts of my members,” the pastor said.
He said he was able to get the electricity restored to the church and will next hold a service there Wednesday, starting at 6 p.m. with food and fellowship. Services were expected to go on as scheduled at the church’s other locations in downtown San Bernardino and Fontana. Platon said Sunday services on Del Rosa would resume March 22.
Platon said he does not believe the crimes were motivated by hate. There were no messages left behind, and the stolen items were the type that could be resold, he said.
The items taken were similar to those grabbed in a Feb. 1 burglary at the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church on E. Evans Street in San Bernardino. The church with about 40 congregants was ransacked, with amplification equipment stolen.
There, Pastor Alan Rosenberg said he’d pray for the burglars, but he was concerned. Rosenberg said recently that he has heard of several other San Bernardino churches being burglarized in the past month.
“The war against the houses of worship in America is very serious and scary,” Rosenberg said. “Why? Because the houses of worship are like the canary in the mine. It’s an indication that the baser elements of our society are rising to the surface unchecked. Everyone is at risk.”
